Clinton and Obama wore (nearly) matching outfits at their Unity event this afternoon: her pantsuit and his tie were both, according to Politico’s color-spectrum analysis, powder blue.

Powder blue, of course, used to be a UCLA school color, back when I was at USC. But the Bruins switched in 2003 to a different shade of blue, so I guess I can forgive the Dems for their use of what I’ve always considered a rather distasteful shade of an otherwise fine color. Still… for future reference, I’d recommend either Notre Dame blue or Newington blue. :)

Anyway, here are some more photos from the Obama-Clinton rally in Unity.

Fellow "Irish Trojan" Katherine Kirkpatrick, who, like me, attended USC for undergrad (she’s even a Daily Trojan alum), and who is now a rising 3L at Notre Dame, was elected NDLS’s new SBA president in a runoff election last week. She will be inaugurated on Sunday.

A Trojan at the helm of the Notre Dame Law School student body: I love it!! Finally, Operation: Trojan Horse can proceed as planned! ;) Just kidding. Seriously, congratulations, Katherine!

In addition, an anonymous tipster informed me that A.J. Bellia and Lloyd Mayer — the latter being my former Election Law professor and adviser for my Electoral College paper, the former being one half of the school’s recent professorial retention coup — finished tied in the initial balloting for NDLS Professor of the Year. That led to a run-off, which Professor Bellia narrowly won. Congrats to him, and to Professor Mayer for his close second-place finish; they’re both great professors, and well deserving of the recognition.

Back in 2002, I griped in print that the Daily Trojan was ignoring the SoCal VoCals’ newsworthy march to musical glory. (For the uninitiated, the VoCals are USC’s premier a capella group, and I am a proud ex-groupie.) That year, alas, they fell just short of the International Championship of Collegiate A Capella finals. But six years and a world championship later, the VoCals are finally getting some front-page DT love.

Here’s the article. Money quote: "It was absolutely beyond any of our wildest dreams," baritone Adam Hutchison said of the group’s performance Saturday in New York City, which earned them the ICCA title (and a live appearance on the Today show Sunday morning).

The DT notes that the VoCals’ winning set included Michael
Buble’s "Feeling Good," Singers Unlimited’s "All the Things You Are"
and Queen’s "Somebody to Love." The A Capella Blog described it as "probably the best competition set I’ve ever seen," and the judges seemed to agree, giving it a whopping 454 out of a possible 465 points. For comparison purposes, the ICCA champs in 2007, 2006 and 2005 won with scores of 431, 422 and 372, respectively. Moreover, 454 points is the second-highest score of this entire ICCA season — second only to the VoCals’ own near-perfect 463 performing the same set in the semifinals. The 437 earned by Florida State University All-Night Yahtzee at the South semifinal is a distant third. (All-Night Yahtzee finished a very distant second at Saturday’s final, with a 384.)

No cameras were allowed in the Lincoln Center for Saturday’s final, but YouTube has video of the entire Western Regional semifinal, including the VoCals’ 463-point set. So here, without further ado, are the three songs that brought home an ICCA world championship to USC:

Fight on, VoCals!

P.S. And speaking of "Fight on," here, in the interest of school spirit, is a video from this past fall of the VoCals performing their signature medley of the Alma Mater, Tusk, and Fight On, with a SoCal Spellout and some "UCLA SUCKS" thrown in good measure:

The International Championship of Collegiate A Capella was tonight in New York City. I don’t know yet how the SoCal VoCals did. I assume The A Cappella Blog will have results up soon. Go VoCals!!!

UPDATE: THE SOCAL VOCALS WON!!! WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!!

Congratulations, VoCals!!!

UPDATE 2: The A Capella Blog writes: “The SoCal VoCals’ winning set gave them perhaps the best-deserved victory I’ve ever seen at an ICCA show. This is the sort of set that needs to be seen to be believed and I am proud to have been a witness to something truly fantastic. Believe the hype — this was probably the best competition set I’ve ever seen.”

The field is set for the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in New York City next Saturday! The event will be held at the Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, the 2,738-seat venue where the New York Philharmonic plays.

As I mentioned previously, the USC SoCal VoCals advanced to the finals for the first time ever by earning the West Region championship on March 15. At the time I wrote that, however, the identities of most of their competitors were still to be determined.

Well, the last semifinal was held six days ago, so now the full field is known. The VoCals will compete against Oxford University Out of the Blue (Western Europe champion), Northwestern University Purple Haze (Midwest champion), Florida State University All-Night Yahtzee (South champion), New York University N’Harmonics (Northeast champion) and Ithaca College Ithacappella (Mid-Atlantic champion).

You hear that, Kristy? USC vs. Ithaca! Oh, it’s ON!!

Fight on, Trojans! Beat the Seminoles, Wildcats, Violets, Bombers and… um… Oxons?

P.S. Here’s the official ICCA website, including a link to buy tickets. I wish I could go! Alas, I don’t think a random trip to New York City is in the cards. But if any of y’all are in the area, I’d recommend it. I’m sure it’ll be an amazing show.

P.P.S. Newly discovered site: The A Cappella Blog. Cool.

A tragedy at ‘SC: "A USC freshman was found dead in his New/North dorm room around noon
Wednesday, after suffering from what appears to be an accidental drug
overdose, USC Department of Public Safety officials said." (Hat tip: Becky.)

The student’s name is Michael Weiss. His death reportedly follows on the heels of a "series of incidents involving substance abuse" at New/North, "prompting a mass e-mail
to residents warning of a new zero tolerance drug use policy."

So sad. May he rest in peace.

Okay, but I’m not sure we want him roaming the sidelines:

Then again, I’m not sure we ever wanted Snoop Dogg roaming the sidelines, either. Unfortunately, nobody listens to me about these things. :)

For the first time ever, the USC SoCal VoCals are going to collegiate a capella’s version of the Final Four: the ICCA International Finals in New York City!

Over the weekend, the VoCals won the ICCA semifinal — basically the Western regional championship — at Marin Center for the Performing Arts in San Rafael, California, beating out the University of Oregon Divisi, the UCLA ScatterTones (ha ha! take that, Mike Tran!), defending national champion BYU Noteworthy, BYU Vocal Point, the Cal-Berkeley Golden Overtones, Mt. San Antonio College Fermata Nowhere, and These Guys from Fullerton and Citrus colleges. (Full results here; scroll down to "ICCA West Region.")

The VoCals’ previous best finish at the ICCA semis was second place in 2001, and they’ve finished third four times: in 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2006. Long-time readers might recall that I trailed the VoCals for a photojournalism project — producing, among others, this photo — during their 2002 third-place ICCA appearance, and later wrote about it in a Daily Trojan opinion article analogizing the competition to March Madness, with which it always roughly coincides.

Anyway, on April 19, this year’s crop of SoCal VoCals will compete for the international championship of collegiate a capella (that’s what ICCA stands for, natch) against the Northwestern University Purple Haze (Midwest Region champs), Oxford University Out of the Blue (Western Europe champs), and as-yet undetermined champions from the South, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.

Fight on, SoCal VoCals!! Beat those other schools!! Wooo!!

USC Daily Trojan staffers will get to ask Bill Clinton questions as part of a mtvU series designed to "take some of the top college reporters from across the country and have them
grill key policy makers and influencers." The forum will be taped on Sunday, and "highlights" will be posted on mtvU.com Sunday evening, followed by a full broadcast on March 26 at noon. The other college newspapers participating are the Howard Hilltop, Smith Sophian and Tulane Hullabaloo. More info here and here.

Blogger Alex Weprin writes, "The hope is that in selecting top college journos, the forums will be serious,
substantive talks, and not gossip," so "I wouldn’t expect too many ‘boxers or briefs’ questions here."

The shameless blog plugs worked! Julie Moffitt, the former SoCal VoCals phenom, is now a "FameCast Fenom" and winner of a cool $10,000! She won first place in the Internet competition’s Singer/Songwriter category, thanks to a furious rally in the final day of voting. (She was in third place as late as Wednesday evening; the polls closed at noon Thursday.) That rally is probably due mostly to Julie’s own network of fans, but hey, you never know — maybe it was support from the Irish Trojan crowd that pushed her over the top. :)

There’s been no reaction yet on Julie’s blog or her Facebook group — probably because she’s been busy celebrating, and deservedly so — but I’m sure there will be eventually. Anyway, congrats, Julie!! (Hat tip: Mike.)

UPDATE: Julie — who, incidentally, was also named the "Critics’ Choice," as seen in this video — just sent an e-mail to her fans titled "WE DID IT!!!" The full thing is reproduced after the jump, but here’s the money quote:

Whether I had won or not, this has been a life-changing experience.  It’s like the VH1 "Best Week Ever" – I won $10,000, was chosen as an industry favorite in my genre, and I got a puppy!!  I’m really excited for next year – more touring, a new album (HOORAY!) and time to take advantage of all these new industry connections I’ve been making.  :)  My 10-year high school reunion is about a year and a half away…is that enough time to get a Top 10 single on the radio?

Like I said, the whole thing is after the jump.

P.S. By the way, Julie’s 2006 debut album is available on iTunes. And one of its songs has already gotten a positive review in comments on this post!

P.P.S. I say "debut album," but of course, Julie is also prominently featured on the SoCal VoCals’ best album to date IMHO, V3: Previously Unreleased, including in particular Track #12, "Total Eclipse of the Heart," her signature solo.

(more…)

Former SoCal VoCal Julie Moffitt (previous posts here and here) has risen to the #2 spot in the FameCast Singer-Songwriter Finals, which puts her achingly close to the $10,000 prize — but she still needs your support! In an e-mail to her fans last night, Julie wrote that she "think[s] an extra 15 or 20 votes will put me over the top at this point." The polls close at noon today. So, with apologies for the excessive shilling :) … one last time … vote for Julie!

(You must be registered to vote. Registration is free. One vote is allowed per account per day, so if you voted yesterday, you can vote again today.)

Julie Moffitt, of SoCal VoCals/Total Eclipse of the Heart fame (previous post here), still needs your help! It’s crunch time in the FameCast Singer-Songwriter Finals, and Julie’s in the running for the $10,000 prize… but she needs votes. Lots of votes! The polls close at noon EST tomorrow, so now’s the time to vote for Julie!

(You must be registered to vote. Registration is free. One vote is allowed per account per day.)

Here, by the way, is what Rolling Stone reviewer Gary Graff had to say about Julie’s performances on the linked page:

The smartest thing you do here is give us a real
sense of range with two very different songs played, no less, on two different
instruments. It’s great to hear a piano song, and "Bound to Fail" is an
exceptional song — even though there are things you can, and should, do to it
when it’s recorded, like speeding it up a bit, particularly in the bridge. But
it’s a song that will definitely benefit from a full band arrangement, and your
vocal here is well nuanced, mixing pathos and playfulness. "Oh Hell" is a lot of
fun and lets you sing in a completely different way — and show some
instrumental chops, too, since it’s hard to do those barre chords on a 12-string
acoustic. You are ready for prime time, so let’s hope others cotton on to that
real soon.

Also, she has a new puppy. Which means she needs that $10,000 for dog food. So get out the vote already! :)

Julie Moffitt, the former SoCal VoCals singer (most memorably the amazing soloist on Total Eclipse of the Heart for the better part of four years), now has a budding independent music career — here’s her MySpace page — and last weekend, she was in Austin, Texas for the finals of FameCast, an online reality-show music competition thingy that awards $10,000 to the winner.

Julie writes all about the FameCast experience on her blog. She says that after two years of keeping herself grounded even as the gigs and the money have gotten better, her experience with a “total rock star lifestyle,” courtesy of FameCast, has her “hooked.” Heh.

Anyway, Julie is one of five finalists in the singer-songwriter category, and now it’s up to the online audience to decide whether she wins the big bucks. So, for those willing to help a Trojan out (or just interested in listening to some good music), here’s the link where you can watch Julie’s performance and vote for her! (You have to register before you can vote. It’s free.)

I particularly like the second song she does; it shows off her ability to really let loose and belt out the music with the same sexy, sultry edge that made her version of Total Eclipse such a highlight of the VoCals’ repertoire when we were at ‘SC.

The photo at the top of this post, by the way, is one that I took in 2002 when I was tailing the VoCals around the Bay Area for a photojournalism assignment that eventually also spawned a Daily Trojan article. Julie loved the picture and asked me to make her a copy, but I promptly lost the negatives, and only found them again just recently while going through old photo boxes. So, I have now finally sent her that copy she asked for, a mere five years late. ;)

UPDATE: Julie’s very excited to finally have that photo. She even blogged about it: “There was one photo in particular that I fell in love with, but somewhere along the way, it was lost, and though Brendan and I spent months trying to find it, eventually I had to give up and hope that one day I could recreate the shot. Until a few minutes ago, when I received an email containing [it] … Thank you Brendan!!” You’re welcome, Julie!

P.S. Julie isn’t the only SoCal VoCal from that era who is enjoying musical success. My other favorite VoCal alum, Bryce Ryness, is in a band, and last year he played Roger in the national tour of Rent. Oh yeah, and he’s married to fellow ex-VoCal Meredith.

Shockingly, she criticized liberals.

An attempted kidnapping on 27th Street near USC.

Becky used to live on 27th on the west side of Hoover, right near where this happened.